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Objective: Each student will develop a prototype of a small website (Photoshop comps) of their choice. Photoshop comps are static images of how the site will look, so you do not have to worry about designing working pages. The site will consist of a homepage and five additional pages (internal pages, mobile page, facebook page, blog page etc.) I am not expecting that all pages will be equally elaborate, for example you can have a contact page that is fairly simple. I am interested in graphic design only.

The website should be creative and original, developed according to visual aesthetics and usability standards, and should show student’s proficiency in using Photoshop. The project will be graded according four criteria: use of the principles of design, visual appeal, functionality (form aesthetic perspective), and use of techniques used in the project.Read the rest of this entry »

Objective: Design a poster for a fictional movie. Snap some pictures of your kids, dogs and significant others in interesting poses, rework in in Photoshop, add some background and text and have some fun with it.

The poster has to constitute of at least 5 elements, including 3 non-textual elements. The two paragraphs description explaining, how the design principles (dominance, balance, contrast, rhythm) and depth cues (perspective, texture gradient, superposition, shadowing, etc.) are presented in your design should accompany your work.

Objective: Write a critique of a selected website. In your critique, present your understanding of the concepts covered in the last two classes: form vs. function and elements and principles of design, how are they presented on the website.

In the world of website design, there are a number of beautiful websites that are eye catching and stunningly beautiful, but sometimes it’s the simplicity that draws in the eye even more so. The Pistol Packing Ladies (PPL) website is one such site. Although it does not offer a depth of technique, it offers cleanliness and simplicity. From “form follows function” to the elements and principles of design, the PPL website is worth analyzing.

The authors of White Space Is Not Your Enemy (WSINYE), Hagen and Golombisky, state that “Good design results from a partnership between “form” as art and “function” as utility. (p. 2). The purpose, or function, of the PPL website is to introduce visitors to the local women’s shooting club, invite them to join other lady pistol shooters at the local range to hone skills and to feel empowered.

I took a B&W cartoon and colored it in using three different color patterns.

I chose colors for this first recoloring from one line in the swatch. The tire colors are from a different palette.

For this next recoloring, I visited colorsoftheweb.com, chose a color I liked, chose the split complimentary button and saved those color choices to my swatch. The tire colors are from a different palette.

And for this last recoloring, I again visited colorsoftheweb.com, chose a color I liked, chose the hue saturation colors and saved those color to my swatch. The tire colors are from a different palette.